xbtmusic.org News - Development discussion (Phase 3)

Bitcoin's got explained. The network has been finalized. The CB project was restarted. The final step is the new site code. Let's restart the development and start talking about it.

Phase 3 is months away, but it involves particular policy changes, e.g. The 20% Rule (T2R) requiring everybody to seed at least 20% of what they (ever) download(ed), or freezing downloads for anybody with ratio below 0.75, so the Download Freeze (DF). Make sure to review the writeup and start preparing yourself for the incoming changes early enough.

Basically, everything is new. Completely new design, new layout, new features and 100% new original code. To single out the most interesting aspects:

A) Premises and goals completed:

A-1) Completely new site design and layout, and the premise behind it. It's all done. 100% new 100% valid xhtml strict code with 100% valid CSS3. This is 100% original code. Looks very good and is very fast (as it is mostly CSS based), and fully valid.
A-2) Full and complete compliance with "Content-security-policy" or other similar modern Web design guidelines.

B) Premises and goals almost finished or in progress:

B-1) Moving any previous development PHP 5.6 code to PHP 7.x, including new opcachers and ajax automation, no inline SQL, 100% stored procedures, etc. -> 100% current and modern code
B-2) New site features which are being worked on, or which are ready and require practical testing:

2-1) GUI improvements (see A1)
2-2) (a) Completely new internals and site automation (things you cannot see, e.g. Cloudflare API automation, auto-cleanups etc.)
2-2) (b) Much more advanced "Staff forensics", i.e. complex cross-referencing of torrent and peer summaries
2-3) Fully automated torrent management (auto freebies, auto random freebies, auto promo torrents, auto uploader management, etc.)
2-4) Fully integrated bounty-based requests with profile personalization
2-5) Personalized Bookmarks (with an extra 'priority' level) and dedicated RSS bookmarks only-feed
2-6) New thread-based private messenger
2-7) New thread-based integrated forum (as forum will be a part of the site now, finally; 100% own original code, no 3rd party crap)
2-8) New automated personalized donation system
2-9) Many and MANY changes to User profile and settings, for example:

Two-step authentication using Google Authenticator or similar software; and different session management (you will be able to roam between all logged in browsers/devices).
PGP outgoing emails (no plaintext will be sent out, PGP only or nothing; exception: invitations)
Secure last.fm integration
Optional instant messaging using Pushbullet (as replacement of site sent emails)
Extended activity notifications, e.g. you get a PM when somebody mentions you
Extended torrent management, e.g. how both general and personalized TNS is handled, or a new torrent tab "Now not seeding" (vs "Now downloading" and "Now seeding")
A space to enter all your audio hardware (audio inventory) visible to anybody viewing your profile
New detailed user statistics, everything is Google Charts based (google's code cloned and stored locally) which makes it easy to process and looks really well
Enhanced privacy policy, a) we will keep any IP/session history only for 3 years, b) advanced User classes may opt for shorter periods, e.g. a year or a couple of months
An option to get all torrents you downloaded so far as a single ZIP file

2-10) Automatic real-time torrent description generation and replacement engine

i.e. the site generates a neat single PNG torrent description for you, or replaces on your request description on an existing torrent. Inspiration: https://xbtmusic.org/torrents-details.php?id=124521 and similar.
Also see C-1.
Uploaders will have hence an option to either enter own descriptions (as it's been so far), or have one auto-generated for them.
This will be also used to fix all torrents with incomplete and missing descriptions. When this is launched we will have a Community action to fix all broken or incomplete torrent descriptions.

2-11) Automated and integrated Prospective Uploaders project
2-12) Automated and integrated MFSL Discography project
2-13) New seeding policy: Lifeline Seeding points, you get 1 LS point for 1 hour of seeding of a torrent on which you're the only seed.
2-14) New ratio policy: Download Freeze (DF), 0.75 > x will result in downloading anything new will be frozen until the ratio improves. We will no longer disable accounts for ratio. They will simply remain frozen. Solutions: seed, donate or become an Uploader Lite (UL are exempt from the DF) and fix your ratio
2-15) New user classes and policy enforcement:

User class: Lifeline Seeder (awarded for 3 000 000 Lifeline seeding points), equal to Uploader Elite, i.e. no ratio, more invites and no T2R obligation
User class: Site Saint, for ultra truly exceptional contributions to this project, promoted manually by the staff
User class: Newbie (a class for new users with very specific requirements, lasts 2 first months of membership). Newbies will be given 5GB of buffers for free, and will be required to seed at least 66% (2/3) of what they download at all times, never go below global ratio of 0.5 (dropping below means "instant death" instead of DF), and download and upload at least 10 GBs. Newbies will not be able to participate in: Bonus invites, site freeleech and site projects like CB. Newbies will not be able to donate. After 2 months, if they survive, they will be auto-promoted to Users. At any point they can apply to be promoted to Uploader Lite to start their uploading careers.
User class: Removal of "Senior" user class. It's meaningless.

2-16) New activity requirements handling inactive accounts auto:

If a user is seeding torrents, after 2 the months of no visits the account is auto-parked and as long the torrents are seeded, it is kept indefinitely.
If a user is not seeding anything, after 2 months of no visits the account is auto-parked and kept so for a year. Then it is irreversibly erased.
If a user parks their account, it works in the same way. Any account can be parked for 12 months. During parking its status (e.g. Uploader class) remains frozen.
If an account is "staff parked", it is kept indefinitely along with its status. If you plan to leave for a longer moment (e.g. you're getting jailed for tax evasion), let us know.

2-17) Advanced ultra-fast IRC bot to announce torrents and do other useful stuff, rooted into the site code.
2-18) Public site log, organisation of "Site life" into suggestive " 24 hours long lifecycle", and unified single Site Time replacing personalised timezones since this has always been confusing.
2-19) Advanced freeleech and "random freebies" options, .e.g. a random chance to get a "random freebie" or personalised per uploader freeleech options. All auto.
2-20) Removal of "Comment Reward". It keeps on being misunderstood and misused.

B-3) A much faster and potent tracker, made simpler and more effective in PHP7 (sadly, it's still in PHP, it will be run in multi-instance mode, though, to compensate for that). Perhaps when everything else is done this will be turned into own original development in C only.

C) Premises and goals to be implemented which require more research or particular preparation:

C-1) Own image server to store torrent descriptions and other personalized images and avatars. Apart from imgur and internal image server, no other linked images will be allowed. Requires: New disks specifically for that; There are 2 free 2.5" slots in the main server left. I was thinking 2x Intel SSD 540 1TB or something similar, raided via a ZFS mirror. They need to be both fast and trustworthy to last a reasonably long time. Also see B2-10.
C-2) The 20% Rules (T2R): New seeding requirement of 20%. See below special notes on that.
C-3) Full IPv6 readiness and support. IPv6 is still more of a gimmick but maybe it is worth having. Our backend and routing network is IPv6 ready. Cloudflare supports it too. It will be enough to bring the code up to date.

D) Premises and goals to consider:

Command-line ready Uploader API, i.e. you will be able to upload a torrent directly from your seedbox's command line using a provided Bash or Tcsh script. This is fairly easy to do and secure (e.g. you add a whitelisted API access IP in your profile), but I am having doubts if this will be useful at all. Most of you get confused by the simplest things. This may end up being counter-productive. Likely, for some time after the New Site launch this will remain Staff-only for future testing, AND/OR will be switched on per Uploader basis, i.e. if we can be sure this won't confuse you and cause damage instead of helping. To be discussed further.
Single URL based invitations (instead of sending out emails). Not sure if good idea at all. As above. In theory should be more secure but may lead to more problems instead of solving any.

Special notes regarding The 20% Rule (T2R):

Everybody not exempt will be required to seed at least 20% of what they downloaded, regardless of how many torrents they downloaded, or how long they've been our users. In theory, you will be required to seed the 20% all the time, always. In practice, this will be based on a median spanning for 2-3 weeks, which will allow "blind spots", e.g. seeding only during the day if you switch your computer for the night, or seeding only during week days and not during the weekends. The point is to have a prevalent seeding time vs. the time you seed nothing over a longer time (2-3 weeks) to have headroom. It is also possible the median during practical testing and after seeing user statistics in real time, will be extended.

A short checklist:

To repeat it more plainly: Everybody will have to seed 20% of what they downloaded. In theory it is expected you seed all the time. In practice, if you can't, certain limited "blind spots" (e.g. seeding during only the day) will be possible. Best if you start preparing yourself right away. Think of a setup which will allow persistent seeding over longer periods of time.
Technically, we will collect your seeding stats a couple of times during every hour (appropriately to the re-announce time), and these "hourly" medians will be summed up to consitute a daily median. Daily medians will be used to calculate the T2R median proper, currently spanning 21 days (3 weeks). The idea is to get the prevalent seeding time over non-seeding time. It is possible it will make more practical sense to spand the median over 14 days (2 weeks). We shall see which road we will take. The trick of the tail: Longer the median, more non-seeding time it allows; but also longer the period needed to "recharge" it.
What happens when you don't seed for a longer time? With time your "T2R median" (if the chosen period is 3 weeks = 21 days, then after 11 days of seeding nothing) will be "reset" (as at this point it will be zero) and you won't be able to download anything. You will have to spend some time seeding for your "T2R median" to "recharge" itself, and allow access. The "recharge time" will be based on your average seeding stats. More you seed on average, more trustworthy you become.
For a 3 weeks median: Allowed non-seeding "blindspot": 10 days. Longer than that, if you on average seeded 20%, you will need 11 days before you can download. If 40%, 9 days, if 60%, 6 days, if 80%, 3 days.
For a 2 weeks median: Allowed non-seeding "blindspot": 7 days. Longer than that, if you on average seeded 20%, you will need 8 days before you can download. If 40%, 6 days, if 60%, 4 days, if 80%, 2 days.
There will be an appropriate graph on your account telling you what your situation is.

Particular user classes will be exempt from T2R: Uploaders Lite, Uploaders, Uploaders Elite and Uploaders VIP; Site Saints; Lifeline Seeders; Hardware Founders; and some Site Friends marked as "Allowed to upload" or "Exempt from T2R"). Non-uploading/non-exempt Site Friends will be subject to T2R. All Uploaders are obviously exempt.
Important: After this policy is implemented, everybody will be given 3 months to back-download anything you will be short of the 20%. All your downloads (i.e. torrents which you 100% completed) will be freeleech during this time.
Important: The system is being designed so that T2R requirement (20%) can be personalised, e.g. you as an individual can be required to seed more, e.g. 60%. More you complain about it, more likely it is for you to receive a higher quota.
Important: T2R quota can be combined with the Lifeline Seeding points, i.e. you will be most welcome to seed the most badly seeded torrents you downloaded to meet the 20%. This way you both get Lifeline Seeding Points and fulfil T2R. If you collect 3 000 000 (3 million) LSP, you will be promoted to Lifeline Seeder, a userclass which is exempt from the T2R. Also see B2-15. This means 3 million hours of being the only seed on any number of torrents. That's 8 months and two weeks of seeding 500, or 4 months and a week of seeding 1000

TL;DR VERSION ABOUT DEVELOPMENT:

100% new and original code. Modern standards.
Automatic torrent description generation.
Own image server.

TL;DR VERSION ABOUT POLICY CHANGES:

Everybody will have to seed 20% of what they download(ed) -> T2R; Uploaders (Lite/Reg/Elite/VIP), Hardware Founders and chosen Site Friends will be exempt from T2R
Users with ratio below 0.75 will have their downloading capabilities frozen until the ratio improves. This doesn't concern ratio-free classes. -> DF
For being the only seed on torrents you will get Lifeline Seeding Points, 3 mil and you get a ratio-free elite class "Lifeline Seeder", exempt from T2R and ratio-free.